In Loving Memory
|
|
|
||
|
In Loving Memory
|
|||
|
|
Sweet Baby Annie
Annie may have come from an extremely abusive environment, but in only 81/2 months, our little girl managed to come in second in Obedience School, learned to trust humans (especially men, thanks to her loving and patient dad, Rob), put much needed weight on her bony body, became Hanks very very best friend and my constant shadow. Slowly, over time, her dull eyes came to life; fear was replaced with trust, then happiness and finally love.
Everyone giggled at Annie when she pulled her lips way back exposing her pearly white teeth, gently taking whatever treat was offered (she particularly loved BBQ chips). We all loved the infamous "Annie bounce" when she walked. She was a delight to watch. She learned how to play with toys and especially loved her soft stuffed animals. She’d shake them, toss them in the air, pounce on them, then throw them in the air again – very resourceful little girl. She would pick up her "steak on a rope" swinging it so hard from side to side she’d slap herself. The more we laughed at this, the more she would swing it. But most of all she loved to play with Hank and our boy was hopelessly in love.
She
was a happy girl (except during thunder storms) and our constant joy until at
the end of August when we discovered enlarged lymph nodes. The diagnosis
of lymphoblastic
lymphoma shattered us. We received
the news exactly one year to the day of learning that our beloved Murphy had
cancer. Apparently lightning does
strike twice.
In
spite of the very best efforts of our wonderful veterinarian, Dr. Randy
Marshall, immediate chemotherapy and daily visits to the clinic for supportive
therapy, we lost our darling Annie in only 17 days.
In
the end she went so fast we had no time to get help.
We held her tight, stroked her gently and told her how much we loved her.
We told her how sorry we were that we couldn't save her and how unfair it
was that this happened to her when she finally found happiness in her short
life. Annie died in our arms at 8:40 PM on Monday, September 16th.
She was only 2 years old.
Rest peacefully my sweet baby until we meet again.
Love Mom
Annie's original story, written in February 2002 by Adoptive Mom Nancy:
They guessed her to be about 20 months old Christmas 2001. She and a male GSD had been seized by the SPCA in the fall of 2001. The male was found wearing a choke collar that had become embedded in his neck. It was so badly infected he could not be saved and was euthanized. The little female was immobilized by fear & had to be carried on a blanket to her kennel at the shelter. They soon discovered this little girl was pregnant. Her 7 beautiful puppies were born at the shelter and weaned on Christmas day.
While still grieving the loss of our beloved Murphy to cancer only 2 weeks earlier, we went to the SPCA to assess several German Shepherds for GSRT. We were about leave when I remembered a GSD they called “Tasha”. We were taken to this friendly, but very timid girl, and though I tried to leave several times, I was drawn back to her. It was clear to me that she needed a very special home & fast! We made arrangements to adopt her immediately.
Tasha was re-named Annie in memory of Anika (see Anika's story here). Although she had been abused, her fear is being replaced with trust and we now see pure joy on her face as she plays with our boy Hank. She’s learning that not all humans will hurt her. She’s a special girl, our sweet Annie and came into our life at just the right time.